Lisbon School Board held their reorganization meeting following the recent school board election.
Jen Caspers (294 votes), John Prasil (260 votes) and John Baker (145 votes) had the most votes in the school board election.
Superintendent Autumn Pino said she appreciated people’s patience, as determining the winner in a close election that spanned multiple counties took some additional time.
Abbe Stensland was recognized for her eight years of service to the school board.
“I really appreciated everything Abbe brought to the board, especially on items that involved legal and finance decisions,” Pino said. “I appreciated her work especially in the negotiating process with the Lisbon Education Association.”
Stensland said it was her honor and privilege to serve on the school board, and she is excited for the future of the board.
Stensland will continue serving as mock trial coach for Lisbon Schools.
“There’s nothing like creating students who know how to argue both sides of an argument and support their points,” Stensland said.
Caspers was elected school board president, and Prasil vice president.
Baker was appointed to serve on the facilities committee with Allan Mallie.
Prasil and Caspers will be on the finance and negotiation committee.
Robyn Richey and Caspers were on school improvement advisory committee. All members will serve on policy and legislative committee.
The board will continue to meet on the second Wednesday at 6 p.m.
Lisbon approves minor changes to policiesLisbon approved some minor language changes to the new student discipline policies.
The 503 policies were approved by the Iowa legislature last year in House File 604. The district was waiting until guidance from the Department of Education and Iowa Association of School Boards was passed before fully adopting the new policies.
The language that Lisbon is considering is spelling out what constitutes a credible threat.
“One distinction we are making is that the threat level is different when a kindergartner makes a threat compared to a senior,” said superintendent Autumn Pino. “Should a kindergartener threaten to kill anyone? No, but is it a credible threat that they are going to follow through on that?”
Pino said she and the administrative team are working on these concerns.
The other change was to separate distinctions per the parts of the building because the school is different than other school systems with all 12 grades in one building.
Pino said the guidance from the Department of Education and IASB was good, they were just adapting it to their buildings.
The first approval of the 500 series was made at the Nov. 27 meeting, with the full adoption to be completed at December’s meeting.
Lisbon schools approve using Covenant Lifestyle Employee Assistance Lisbon Schools will be offering the Covenant Lifestyle Employee assistance program, beginning in January.
Lisbon superintendent Autumn Pino said this is offered as a way to remove stigma from seeking services for items like mental health.
One of the examples that Pino notes is it can be a way for staff to test items like counseling without requiring insurance.
“If they find this works, they might seek the service through their insurance outright,” Pino said.
The goal is to help take away stigma for staff to seek appropriate health insurance and guidance.
Winter volunteer coaches approvedLisbon approved a list of several volunteer coaches for winter sports.
Superintendent Autumn Pino said that all volunteers go through a background check before being allowed to coach, and are not paid for their work with the students.
Board member Allan Mallie asked about the access to the building provided via keycards for volunteer coaches.
Pino said she and activities director Brandon Horman are investigating that matter, noting Lisbon has been generous with passkeys in the past and they are looking at ways to make sure doors are not propped open when school is not in session.
Board member John Prasil said his concern was the number of volunteers for extracurriculars and sports when it comes to state contests and competitions, and if they have admission or hotel rooms paid for at those events.
Pino said that volunteers do not have admission paid to events, nor paid hotel rooms.
“They’re volunteers,” Pino said. “If they are a paid staff member or paid coach, they will have those items paid for.”
Lisbon offering
early retirementLisbon Schools will again offer early retirement this year.
The school will offer the opportunity up to three certified (teachers and administrators) and three non-certified (hourly paid staff for the district) on a seniority basis.
Those wanting to take early retirement should be age 55 or older before June 30, have 10 years of service to the Lisbon School District and be a full time employee of Lisbon. Application deadline will be Feb. 1, 2024.
Certified employees, will be paid 50 percent of salary paid over the course of a school year in two payments. That payment will be placed in a health insurance account for paying health insurance premiums or a 403 B retirement account. Non-certified employees will be paid 66 percent of their salary.
Roughly eight employees are eligible/qualified for early retirement in the district.
Discussion also considered offering the plan with an earlier deadline, but the board stayed with the Feb. 1 deadline to apply.